For dance fans, this is a delightful disc
covering, in three performances, a representative range of the
great choreographer Jiři Kylián. The music and performances
range from a quite-amusing take on what many would think as
classical ballet set to Haydn’s music to the more avant-garde
Stamping Ground with Chavez’s Toccata for Percussion
Instruments. For those looking to this as a music performance
disc first and a dance disc second, I will state upfront that
this DVD certainly is a dance disc first.

Some may balk at Kylian’s substitution
of the last movement of the “Chase” symphony (No. 73) for the
Vivace movement of the Clock symphony (No. 101), in Kylian’s
piece Symphony in D, but the dance performance is so
delightful it may win even them over. Premiered in Schweinfurt
in 1976, with some revisions in choreography since then, this
1983 performance under the direction of Kylian is the only performance
of these three that is in front of a live audience. It is immediately
delightful. Many of the stereotypical moves of “classical” dance
are parodied; instead of the men and lead male dancer chasing
after the women, they ignore them, shun them even, as certain
ballerinas keep popping up like persistent weeds that don’t
get the hint that one is trying to root them out. Some are carried
offstage, flopping, like unwanted stage props. Dancers get carried
away with their moves and land facing the wrong way or forgetting
to support their partners, who lurch off into the wings. For
all the hilarity, though, the choreography is extremely detailed
and tough to pull off, and the ensemble performs this piece
with ease. Included with this release is a behind-the-scenes
feature that shows rehearsals of Symphony in D, including
interviews with Kylian, in which he details his move from Prague
to the Royal Ballet School.

The liner notes mention that in the 1980s
Kylian distanced himself from the early, lighter style of Symphony
in D, becoming increasingly darker. One such example is
Stamping Ground, premiered in 1983. This piece also has
a small feature with interviews in which Kylian discusses his
fascination with Australian Aboriginal dance, from which the
overall tone and moves were adapted. As with the other works
presented here on this disc, Stamping Ground has little
staging: only a curtain of Mylar strips, allowing dancers to
appear and disappear from the back of the stage as well as the
wings. The piece begins with the dancers appearing singly, through
the strips of the curtain, accompanying their dance with slaps
and claps. The postures and movements often mimic animals, such
as birds or turtles, before they leave the stage to another
dancer — thus the name of this first movement, the “Dance of
the Individuals.” Chavez’s music is saved for the second movement.
Here, the dancers interact more clearly, often confrontationally,
occasionally as a group that has momentarily taken over the
Stamping Ground. Sometimes the confrontation has its casualties
as the victor stalks off stage and the prone bodies are pulled
silently behind the curtain. A striking performance.

Kylian’s treatment of Janáček’s Sinfonietta
was worked out in 1978, commissioned by the Spoleto Festival
in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Performed before a panoramic
landscape backdrop, the piece attains a sort of timeless, iconic
stature. The staging is a bit more involved, with timed lighting
changes to reflect the change in mood. Grand, all-encompassing
gestures predominate. Here, the camera-work is more static and
less obtrusive — with Symphony in D and Stamping Ground
there are cuts to specific dancers or gestures and one gets
the feeling — especially in the comedic Haydn piece — that a
couple of the jokes happen just off-camera.

For pieces filmed in the early 1980s,
we have — and can expect — some lack of resolution and crispness
in the image which, with my standard television, is not quite
so noticeable, but can easily be detected for those viewing
on computer monitors or more state-of-the-art high definition
screens. For the performances, though, as well as for the quite
interesting interviews, this disc will certainly be of interest
to dance enthusiasts.

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